: KB Home calls housing market ‘robust,’ tops fourth-quarter expectations

This post was originally published on this site

Shares of KB Home rose in the extended session Tuesday after the builder beat Wall Street expectations for its fourth quarter despite pandemic-related problems in the spring.

KB Home KBH, +1.31% said it earned $106 million, or $1.12 a share, in the quarter, compared with $1.31 a share in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Revenue fell 23% to $1.19 billion, reflecting “the negative impact” of the pandemic on company’s operations, particularly net orders and housing starts in the second quarter, the company said.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected KB Home to report GAAP earnings of 93 cents a share on sales of $1.14 billion.

The year 2020 was “extraordinary,” with a 42% on-year increase in fourth-quarter net orders, Chief Executive Jeffrey Mezger said in a statement.

“Housing market conditions continue to be robust, as the pandemic has helped propel demand for homeownership,” and accelerating trends, he said.

KB Home enters 2021 “well positioned to both expand our scale and deliver that growth at superior margins,” he said. “Most notably, we expect meaningfully higher revenue and earnings in 2021 to drive significant expansion of our return on equity.”

Shares of KB Home have lost 4.8% in the past 12 months, contrasting with gains around 16% for the S&P 500 index. SPX, +0.04%